I see many people mostly new to the game that come having certian expectations. Since the beta many have had long discussion on what this game should be, but Rare has made it abundantly clear now as to what they envision for this game. Some may dissagree with but for those who wish to help the devs make this game the best it can be I will try to answer this most important question. "Note i am approxmating and simplifying here so i might have a few mistakes" Everything i'm going to say here is what Rare themselves said and done in the beta's, interview and videos.
Frist ill start by defining the games Genre. This is a Shared Openworld Sandbox meaning that we have a large world to explore and interact as player see fit. No player at anytime is restricted from doing something that another player can. Also as a sandbox it is meant to drive player interaction for story telling and adventure building. The players are what makes the story of this game as there action help shape the world thus they cannot sperate PvE from PvP. This game is also an FPS format and is balanced as such.
Second I will contrast by explianing what this game is not. This in not repeat NOT a Pirate MMORPG, as much as some would like it to be. I was also a bit dissapointed when i frist discorverd this fact. As much as i would like to have massive ship battles of over 100 ships waring agianst different fleets with a full custom made charcter which i Grinded for by Exploring and conquering vast openworld enlisting the help of all my freinds some of which i would have made along the way. As Awesome as that sounds that is not this game and maybe one day we will get one.
Now I will go into more detail with Gameplay Elements. Even thou this game is Not an MMORPG it can share some elements but not all. One of the biggest elements is progression. This is Skill based game meaning that your progession is your own mastery of the game mechnics not based on the amount of time one plays. This kind of game is best played 1-4 hours at a time.
Next up is the Goal of the game. The Goal is simple to become a Pirate Legend. What does that mean exactly? It mean throu out the course of playing this game you will be building your own Legend in SOT, You are the main charcter of your own story an your action leave a mark in this world. You are both the Hero in your adventure and a character in some else story. Rare is giving a world and tools to play out your own pirate fantasy adventure. They want to sell you the story of your rise to fame or infamy. Once you become legend you will become a major chacter in the world and everyone adventure you meet. They also want to make this a game-as-a-service so they will constantly be adding end-game content to everyone except of paying a subcribition fee they will montize there service with commutiy building social microtranations. How well this will work remains to be see and everyone has the right to be skeptical of this. This worries me greatly also but this could be a solution that mutualy beneficial.
Finally for those who are new to a Rare game they are a studio who follows the old belief that the mark of a great game is one that is simple to pickup and play but incredibly difficult to master. This harkens back to when games where far simpler. Where the Fun of the game was the gamplay itself. So if they find something that is fun to do in the game or just flat out funny they will add it.
Now with this understanding in mind i encorage all of you to look at all the suggestion and criticisms to developers for this game and ask yourself does this fit with there vision. I hope this clear things up.
Please feel free to correct me if i misrepresent any of Rare view's and if you belive this game should be somthing different and why.
